K-Car Envy

This one is interesting… These early Daewoo cars were essentially GM of Europe products. The Imperial was basically an upscale Daewoo Royale, which itself is little more than an Opel Rekord with the front end of the larger Opel Senator stuck on. However the Imperial is featured here as the designers oddly decided to style the upscale version of the European GM product as if it were an American Chrysler. A K-Car at that… Even the name is shared with the last K-Car based Imperial of the early 90s. Strange fact – the Daewood Imperial production began in 1989 (and ran through 1993), while the K-Car Chrysler Imperial was built between 1990 to 1993. However, the very similar looking New Yorker / Fifth Avenue were produced throughout the 80s.

Why was Daewoo selling GMs in the first place? A little back story… It all starts in 1976, when GM partnered with Shinjin Industrial Company to sell GM cars in South Korea, under the name Saehan Motor Company. However shortly afterward the fell into financial problems, with Daewoo group taking a large stake in the company in a 1978. Saehan Motor Company was renamed Daewoo Motor Company in 1983. So I guess GM buying Daewoo 20 years later was just a matter of things coming full circle.

 Devolved Inspiration: Daewoo took the K-Car route with it's upscale product - sharp creases and loads of chrome and vinyl.

Spawn of Spohn

Carosseriebau Hermann Spohn was a German coachbuilder, founded in 1920. Due to it’s formation coinciding with the launch Maybach brand, and it’s close proximity to it’s manufacturing plant, Spohn soon became Maybach's favored coachbuilder. In it’s early days, these cars were indeed beautiful, sporting low rooflines with typically flowing fenders of the periods most attractive cars.

Above: 1952 Spohn Palos, based on a 1940 Ford. This picture was taken during restoration, but returning it to it's original glory won't fix it's awkward lines. Below: A Lincoln rebodied by Spohn.

But as the 50’s drew near, Spohn began to favour aerodynamics and excessive ornamentation, resulting in some very strange looking cars. Trademarks include heavyhanded styling: thick front fenders with low set headlights on either side of a low and steepy sloped front end (usually featuring a garish almost horizontal grille), and gigantic but heavy looking fins out back (usually trailing way behind the rear wheels on an lengthened rear end). Although these were early attempts at aerodynamic aids, they definitely didn’t look sleek. One of the worst offenders was the BMW powered Veritas roadster – an attractive car without the Spohn costume. Another you may recall from this blog previously are some of the gaudy and unfortunately named Gaylord cars. Spohn closed down in 1957.

 The Spohn BMW Veritas roadster.  Also in a state of restoration, but also also extremely fugly regardless of whether it was in pristine condition.

This period photo of the Spohn BMW Veritas roadster when new really shows it's awkward front grille.